Wednesday

I write this with salty hair and smelling very strongly of aloe vera.

Got up as usual; back hurt a lot from the sun, had to peel the sheet off my back this morning; packed stuff in dry bag, went to jetty with everyone else, went to Rangali; breakfast, packing equipment/getting stuff for trip/boat; starting to understand the layout of the island better; saying bye to Jim on the boat, sailing off
Huge swells as passing through the channel, standing on top deck with Katie and SuYee, getting lots of sun; saw spinner dolphins, lots of hawksbill turtles, moved from Mandhoo all through the MPA
Lost my hat!!! climbed to top deck, strong wind knocked it off my head and into water; accepted fact that I probably won't see it again; however! Hasan (captain of Vilares, our dhoni) turned the boat around and fetched it for me (when I grappled for it with the boat hook and missed, he half hung out of the boat to try to retrieve it; came back with a rather sullen face, so I said "no worries, it's just a hat!" then his face broke into a cheeky grin as he threw my neon dayglo hat at me)
Continued going back through MPA; at Digurrah, turned into a small channel when SHARK!!! scrambled down the ladder, grabbed the gopro, sprinted to get to the shark
SHARK!!! first had to catch up with him, then swam alongside him for 10 mins or so; then all of the tourists arrived and scared him off; salt water pooling in my sinuses and eyes stinging as salt water plugged my vision; still awesome!!! 6.5 meter shark
Came back to the dhoni when Katie yelled SHARK again; could see his tail poking out from the shallow reef; jumped in with camera, sprinted a good 10 minutes in the water to find him but tourists scared him down so didn't actually get to see him in the water
Climbed back on boat, rinsed off, reapplying sunblock (one leg done, about to start the other leg) when SHARK!! this time, dove in from where I was immediately, no camera, sprinted after him, swam by his side (close to his head) the entire time, a 45 minute encounter!!! just our boat this time, no tourists; the other teammates got tired 10 minutes in and swam back to the dhoni (after taking the data) but I stayed with him, in very shallow reef area for a long time; then he started swimming off the reef and the past the divide of the sloping reef and the deep blue water; followed him until he disappeared completely
So cool!!! got back to the dhoni, did the data sheets, headed back into the lagoon and back to Rangali; took a nap lying on top deck, must be very burnt...
Back on Rangali, cleaned dhoni, put stuff back, went to tuck shop to get bags of trail mix and gummi bears and other snacks for tomorrow; got on speed boat back to Mandhoo
Salt hair whipping everywhere; hair tie broke, hair is extremely jank right now - salt water, sunblock, sweat, oil, birds probably, also probably fish poops; don't care that I look terrible, underneath all that crap in my hair, still smiling
Got back, watched sunset with Dieter and SuYee, found an itsy bitsy hermit crab! put him in a large half-broken shell filled with sand, put a tiny shell in there in case he wanted a different house, keep him as a pet! took him out and set him free on beach after the sunset
Dinner - had these really cool fruits shaped like a funny looking pear, tastes of pear/apple combination, really good and refreshing; called a jambrolu; people laughing about how much/often I eat
Local friend brought us freshly caught fish that he just plucked from the ocean; he barbecued this himself just outside - SO GOOD HOLY MACKEREL; a jax? jux? kind of fish, like a small baby tuna; probably the best piece of fish I've ever had - very meaty, salty, spicy, smoky; like eating a bonfire
Came back to bungalow, did data analysis; from spot/pattern recognition, saw this is whale shark 127, Woody; 1st and 3rd encounters were both him, 2nd one probably also him but no pictures so no proof
Showered, aloe vera'd my entire freaking body